Blog & News

Help, I’ve Just Received A Cease And Desist Letter!

As intellectual property experts, we spend much of our time sending or responding to cease and desist letters. These letters are the first step in intellectual property (IP) claims. They…

How to protect a TV format

Game show formats and reality TV shows like Love Island and Big Brother have been extremely popular not only in the UK, but also internationally. Format rights are therefore important…

Help! I’ve received a Notice of Threatened Opposition, what do I do now?

Well, let’s start by explaining what a Notice of Threatened Opposition actually is… essentially it’s a form (called a TM7A if you’re interested) that potential opponents of a trade mark…

Series marks held compatible with EU trade mark law

Earlier this year, we discussed the ongoing “Glee Club” trade mark saga between Comic Enterprises Limited and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (Trade mark win for the little guy –…

Right to be forgotten – sometimes…

Google attempts to limit the scope of legislative ruling It’s been reported that Google is appealing to the French High Court to limit the scope of the right to be…

3D TM for a Rubik’s Cube? Not such a puzzling decision

You remember Rubik’s Cubes don’t you? Of course you do, fashionable in the 80s, retro in the 90s, slightly forgotten in the noughties, and the subject of an Advocate General…

In A Barrel…

The EU’s General Court recently found that the trade mark ‘NIAGARA’ was descriptive for bottled water and similar goods. It held that the public were likely to perceive ‘niagara’ as…

Trademarks – risks and issues with distributors

Distribution Disasters In the last year, we’ve noticed a significant rise in the number of clients either looking to register trade marks overseas and then finding they’re ‘blocked’ by trade…

Wikimedia Sweden left ‘greatly disappointed’ after court ruling

Wikimedia is part of the not-for-profit foundation that oversees Wikipedia and was found by Sweden’s highest court to have violated copyright laws by providing free access to its database of…

Three stripes and you’re out: the Adidas trade mark saga

This month, Adidas issued court proceedings against Ecco in the US District Court of Oregon claiming that Ecco infringed its three-stripe trade mark by selling footwear featuring three and four…

An Explosive Judgment for Directors and Shareholders!

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, the Court that specialises in IP matters in England and Wales, has recently found that a sole director and shareholder can be personally liable for…

Olympic Athlete Sponsorship Deals and Rule 40

The International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) have relaxed the ban on Olympic athletes lending their name, image or likeness to advertising campaigns around the Olympic Games. The IOC strictly govern advertising…

Google – Creating pirates out of all of us?

A new claim has been made against Google; this time from Getty Images. Getty is due to file a complaint with the European Commission about Google’s high resolution image search.…

Fair dealing gets bowled out

Can copying 8 seconds of a cricket match lasting around 2 hours constitute copyright infringement? According to the High Court of Justice Chancery Division in England And Wales Cricket Board…

Taking screenshots may well be copyright infringement

Snapchat is a mobile messaging application which has become hugely popular in a relatively short space of time. It is used to share photos, videos, text and drawings. One of…

Unregistered design rights in the fashion industry

How to stop your fashion designs being copied? Under EU law, protection for unregistered designs comes via Council Regulation (EC) No. 6/2002 on Community Design. In order for a design to…

The Importance of Carefully Drafted Contracts to IT Systems Development

IT Development Contracts from Hell Many IT developers commence IT systems development work for clients, be it software systems development or web application development, on the basis of their standard…

Breach of confidence claims against ex-employees

It’s not that unusual for an ex-employee to leave and start a competing business. many employers rely on thinking that if that ex-employee contacts clients or uses confidential or trade…